LA County

Galvanize and activate the LA River cultural identity through arts and culture.

Raising awareness of existing and potential uses of the river for arts and culture will make the LA River a more vibrant part of LA County’s cultural experiences. Providing a platform for arts and cultural activities will activate the civic…

Integrate artists, cultural organizations, and community members in planning processes and project development along the river.

The most effective way to integrate more local arts and culture into the LA River corridor is to have meaningful, ongoing engagement with those who are already deeply embedded in the arts and culture communities. Their voices help create and shape…

Identify and activate cultural assets along the LA River corridor.

A community’s cultural assets contribute to its creativity, traditions, robustness, and vitality and can act as both resources and opportunities. Cultural assets can be material, ephemeral, and even spiritual. They include buildings, sites, and objects holding local and national cultural significance;…

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Increase safe transportation routes to the river.

Ensuring that there are clear, safe, direct connections from neighborhoods to the LA River makes nearby neighbors more likely to use the river and, by extension, the broader LA County network of parks and trails that the river connects to. The…

Create a connective network of habitat patches and corridors to facilitate the movement of wildlife and support a diverse resilient ecological community.

Habitat patches are discrete areas, whereas habitat corridors are linear linkages that ensure connectivity between patches. While patches are valuable and important for birds and insect species, enhancing and interconnecting urban habitat patches with larger habitat areas beyond the LA River…

Increase plant species biodiversity, and focus on the use of local California native plants in and around the river corridor.

Individual plants do not exist in isolation. They exist within the context of other plant species, soils, microclimates, and wildlife, and each has a specific function within the larger ecosystem. The more diversity within an ecosystem, the more robust and resilient…

Repurpose single-use spaces, such as power-line easements, rail rights-of-way, or flood infrastructure, to serve multiple functions such as multi-use trails or habitat, and prioritize spaces that are in high and very high park need areas.

With little vacant land and relatively high property values and construction costs, LA County cannot afford to have spaces that serve only a single purpose. Multiple uses of space are necessary to ensure benefits outweigh costs.

Implement consistent floodplain management practices across the region.

Floodplain management is fundamental to reducing losses from floods. Adopting regionally consistent floodplain management practices, such as managing development in the floodplain, will help to reduce potential catastrophic flood damage and improve community resilience to flooding.

Improve flood facility operations and maintenance.

Dams, levees, channels, and other flood management projects, like all infrastructure, require proper operations and maintenance. Increased investment in operations and maintenance of LA River infrastructure can increase its effectiveness and lengthen its useful life, providing a greater return on…

Increase public awareness of flood hazards and river safety.

Although flooding is the most common type of natural disaster in the country, the threats of flooding are often discounted by residents of Los Angeles County. The lack of recent floods coupled with severe droughts have rendered most people living…